Passionate about the deepening of agrarian crisis, quite often journalists and media persons cite figures related to farm suicide (as provided by the National Crime Records Bureau) in order to draw the attention of the readers. They do so in the following ways: * Compare the absolute number of farm suicides (viz. suicide by cultivators + suicide by agricultural labourers) across regions/ states for a particular time point or time period...

-NDTV Of the 13,000 wells in Indian side of Punjab, 25 per cent of them had high levels of arsenic, the study highlighted. New Delhi: The Indus Basin region covering areas of Indian as well as Pakistan side of Punjab has "serious" levels of arsenic in groundwater, along with traces of fluoride and nitrate, raising a major public-health concern, a new study Tuesday said. Of the 13,000 wells in Indian side...

-The Hindu The Electoral Bond Scheme inhibits the citizen’s capacity to meaningfully participate in political and public life Early this year the government introduced an Electoral Bond Scheme purportedly with a view to cleansing the prevailing culture of political sponsorship. But the programme’s failings have been so blindingly obvious, and its consequences so utterly devastating to rectitude and transparency in government, that even O.P. Rawat, who just retired Chief Election Commissioner, thought...

-The Hindu Business Line The BJP faces its toughest battle in Rajasthan, where rural agrarian distress is more acute than elsewhere It has been a long summer for Anirudh Meena. The farmer from Kota in Rajasthan is still waiting for the government to financially compensate his brother Hukumchand Meena’s family. A garlic farmer, Humukchand took his life in May, after the price of the bulb came crashing down, leading to heavy financial...

-The Hindu Home Ministry approves Rs. 131.16 crore to landslip-affected Nagaland, Rs. 539.52 crore to Andhra Pradesh for Cyclone Titli A High Level Committee, headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Thursday approved the additional assistance of Rs. 3048.39 crore to Kerala, Rs. 131.16 crore to Nagaland and Rs. 539.52 crore to Andhra Pradesh, a Home Ministry spokesperson said. The Kerala government had sought Rs. 4,700 crore as compensation from the Central government for...